VOLTAIRE.

£4,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Works. First collected edition of Voltaire's works in English. This first collection did not include two works, but this handsome set makes up the omission. It includes uniformly bound copies of the first English translation of The Age of Louis XV and the second English edition of Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary.In the early 1750s, editions and translations of Voltaire's works multiplied rapidly. Following his earlier surge of fame in the late 1730s, driven largely by his plays and his Life of Charles XII, publishers eventually produced a full English edition of his writings. This thirty six volume collection was issued between 1762 and 1765 under the direction of Tobias Smollett. Lowndes, however, notes that Smollett lent his name to the project but took little active part in its translation. A final volume appeared in 1770, although in this set it is represented by a later edition dated 1781.

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